Members of Congress Won’t Read This Bill

Tell your friends:

Any day now, Congress is likely to release the trillion-dollar Trojan horse that is the spending bill for 2014. It’s going to be big, and it’s going to be rushed. And few members of Congress (if any) are going to read it all.

Government budgeting isn’t supposed to be done this way.

It takes 12 spending bills to fund the entire government. But in an omnibus—the type of bill experts are expecting—Congress throws all of those together and just votes once on the whole thing.

This type of rushed, bloated spending bill is guaranteed to include ineffective government programs, giveaways to corporate cronies, and pork projects. And these are not harmless—taxpayers are funding each and every one. This approach will increase spending, waste taxpayer dollars, and raise our national debt.

As Heritage’s Grover M. Hermann Fellow Romina Boccia warns, “If there were more time, such red flags would be revealed, increasing opposition to the effort—which is why appropriators are expected to provide as little time as possible between introducing the bill and the final vote.”

For lawmakers who have said they can’t find any room to cut, Heritage experts have a few ideas. Taxpayers could save $10.2 billion if Congress just got rid of these 10 wasteful federal programs.

Taxpayers need to make it clear that passing bills to see what’s in them—like Obamacare—won’t fly any more. We expect our elected officials to know what they’re voting on—and what they’re charging taxpayers for.

The Foundry will be doing its part to highlight the wasteful spending contained in the next budget bill. Heritage experts will be delivering thorough analysis. Don’t miss it.